Free The Children and the Blood by Skye Malone, Megan Joel Peterson Page B

boulder. Eyes locked on the space where the boy had stood, she scrambled at the soil, hauling herself toward the ledge.
    Hands grabbed her, dragging her backward and shoving her down till her face smashed into the dirt. Wrenching her arms behind her, they crushed a knee into her back and shouted for her to remain still.
    A cry tore from her throat as she tried to fight.
    Lily couldn’t…
    A fist came out of nowhere. Slamming her face with a dazzling display of red and white light, it drove her back to the ground, and she couldn’t do anything but struggle to breathe around the pain. Tears burned in her eyes, her head rang, and her cheekbone felt shattered. Choking, she opened an eye, staring through a blurry haze toward the cliff.
    Men surrounded her. At the edge of the ravine, a few stood, and amid the ringing in her ears, their words surfaced slowly.
    “What the hell were you thinking?” one snapped, glaring at his burly companion.
    The other man shrugged, an impatiently defensive look on his sweaty face. “What? Kid pulled a gun on me. Besides, Brogan said we only needed one.”
    Looking at him as though he was insane, the first man snarled disgustedly and then turned away, pulling out his cell. “Get me Brogan,” he barked into the phone. He paused. “Well then, dammit, find Simeon!”
    Ashley stared, their words spinning in her mind. Only needed one. Lily was… and her dad… and Jonathan… and Rose… these men had… she didn’t even know why…
    And all because they’d only needed one of them to survive.
    As though feeling the pressure of her gaze, the burly man glanced back, and a smirk twisted his face at the sight of her. Nonchalantly, he crossed the distance to her side.
    Bending down, he wrapped his fingers into her hair, pulling her head away from the ground. “You got a problem with me, brat?” he snickered. “Do something about it.”
    Sharply, he shoved her face deeper into the dirt, sending pain surging through her cheek. Laughing, he straightened and then clapped the man holding her on the shoulder before sauntering away.
    She couldn’t breathe. Trembling shook her and she couldn’t stop it. Somewhere inside, emotions welled up, superseding one another in tumbling waves. Grief gave way to anguish, gave way to agony, gave way to searing pain…
    Gave way to rage.
    Burning, twisting, seething rage. From deep inside it rose like magma from the heart of the earth, roaring to the surface and tearing her body apart as it came.
    They’d hurt Lily.
    They’d destroyed everything.
    Because they’d only needed one.
    Just one.
    Her eyes found the burly man. She watched him turn back toward her.
    And then the world exploded in flame.
     
    *****
     
    The ground hit him hard.
    Crashing onto his back on the rock, Cole felt the air rush from his chest, and pain nearly blinded him. A few inches away, the little girl slammed down, her screams ending as though severed by a knife.
    Gasping, he blinked hard, trying to see the girl past the red fog in his eyes.
    Her hand found his.
    The haze pulled back. He glanced behind him.
    He lay an inch from the abyss, on a tiny protrusion of rock barely a few feet wide. An overhang of rock covered part of the ledge, and without thinking, he gripped the girl’s hand and rolled to his feet, heading for the negligible cover.
    Pain went off like a firecracker inside his shoulder.
    Sucking air through his teeth, he flung himself beneath the overhang, dragging the little girl with him. Together, they tumbled into the back wall, hitting rocky outcroppings and dried roots as they landed.
    The girl whimpered, and quickly, he put his hand over her mouth to silence her. On the edge of the outcropping, he caught sight of his own blood, glimmering like a red beacon. Blanching, he drew his feet in as tightly as they would go and pulled the girl closer, waiting.
    Pebbles scattered across the ledge, kicked down carelessly from above.
    “What the hell were you